


Courteous

by Jassmine



Series: The Starling and the Rake [9]
Category: Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Genre: Character Study, Ethics, F/M, Falling In Love, Financial Issues, Introspection, Morality, Relationship Study, Social Issues, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24453991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jassmine/pseuds/Jassmine
Summary: At first Edmund didn’t like Mr. Rushworth at all. He could not refrain from often saying to himself “If this man had not twelve thousand a year, he would be a very stupid fellow.”I simply love all of the Mansfield Park characters. They are so alive... And Edmund - He just fascinates me.Chapters IV and VI.
Relationships: Edmund Bertram & Mr. Rushworth, Edmund Bertram/Mary Crawford
Series: The Starling and the Rake [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726675
Kudos: 9





	Courteous

**Author's Note:**

> Please note, that English isn't my first language and I don't have a beta. So, I will be glad for all your suggestions and comments on grammar (or whatever else you feel like commenting).
> 
> I don’t have much to say about this… I love these characters and I want to spend as much time as possible with them. Edmund is starting to make more sense to me, and I am going to write one Mr. Rushworth – centric one, because I feel that he is often dismissed like “that stupid fellow” or “that fiancé/husband Maria has to have so she can cheated on him”. I kind of already feel sorry for him and I am just at the beginning of the book.

At first Edmund didn’t like Mr. Rushworth at all. He could not refrain from often saying to himself “If this man had not twelve thousand a year, he would be a very stupid fellow.” Especially because everyone seemed to be thrilled with the idea of Mr. Rushworth marrying his sister, considering him an ideal groom. Being stupid wasn’t the man’s fault, God made him that way, but Edmund couldn’t help himself he was quite annoyed by him, even though he was too polite to show it. (Or at least he thought so, in reality Edmund’s irritation with Mr. Rushworth wasn’t exactly a secret. On the other hand, some people were so preoccupied with themselves they didn’t really care to bother with what other people thought…)

He thought he could allow his sister to be the best judge of her own happiness but seeing that she not only centred her happiness in a large income, but even chose a groom she couldn’t stand to be around, he started to question her abilities. Maria’s behaviour toward her fiancé was alarming and uncourteous. She deliberately mocked the man and played with him. Edmund was quite astonished by behaviour of all his family. No one came to his aid, when the man trapped himself in his own speech. It were Edmund’s morals and consciousness that urged him to help the poor man, especially when he saw that no one other will do the right thing.

Edmund never actually changed his opinion on Mr. Rushworth. He just grown a tendency to tend to the people his family mistreated.

* * *

He couldn’t know that Miss Crawford watched him quite intently when he came to Mr Rushworth’s aid. He didn’t know that Miss Crawford belonged among that rare few who care to observe other people and therefore knew about his dislike for a man. And she very bravely tried to fight it, but she couldn’t stop the wave of admiration that rose in her. “He is a well-bred man; he makes the best of it,” she said to herself reluctantly.

**Author's Note:**

> I am still astonished by how much I enjoy Mary. I love how both her and Edmund are very reluctant at the beginning to surrender to their feelings. They both try to rationalize it away and both of them are unsuccessful! I never shipped them in the movie (I only saw 1999 version), but in the book… I am starting to believe they are perfect for each other.


End file.
